Hopewell looks to end Mercer sectional title drought HOPEWELL (18-5) VS. OCEAN (14-7) POTENTIAL LINEUPS

For one of the rare times in the annals of Mercer County wrestling, one of its teams will have a legitimate chance to win a sectional title when Hopewell Valley (18-5) travels to Ocean Township Friday night in a Central Jersey Group III final.

It’s not so much that the county hasn’t had capable teams, but rather it has usually been a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hopewell Valley, for instance, had to go to powerhouse South Plainfield in 2016 and 2017 with the result being predictable lopsided losses to the eventual Group III state champion.

It would have be more of the same this year, but the door was opened for Hopewell Valley when South Plainfield (22-2) dropped down from Group III to Group II.

The only Mercer teams to win sectional titles have been Hamilton in 1992 and a 2010 Robbinsville team coached by the legendary Rich “Southern Man’’ Gildner.

Although Ocean beat Hopewell Valley, 38-28, in January, the Bulldogs certainly have a chance to reverse that loss and become the third Mercer team to make groups.

Neither Ocean or Hopewell was at full strength the first time they met and both are expected to have all hands on deck this time around.

In the first match, Hopewell was without Chris Lanciano at 126 and it got pinned in that weight. Ocean, meanwhile, was missing middleweight Alex Poniros, who returned to the lineup earlier this week after missing the better part of two months with an injury.

Looking for Ocean to possibly try to get Poniros (seventh in the state last year) on Justin Venezia to try to reverse a loss by major decision at 145 pounds.

Another thing Hopewell hopes will work in its favor is the improvement of its upperweights. In the first match Hopewell lost a 9-4 decision at 220 and forfeited heavyweight. Obviously, if Hopewell can gain or least save some points there it would be a big help.

Other key bouts could come at 113 where Hopewell will hope to repeat Jacob Venezia’s tight 1-0 decision over Demetri Poniros and at 106 where the Bulldogs came up on the short end of a 2-1 decision.

Including Hopewell Valley, there are four area teams in sectional finals Friday evening with the other three all from wrestling-rich Hunterdon County.

MANALAPAN (22-4) AT HUNTERDON CENTRAL (21-1) IN CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP V

Manalapan really put it to Monroe Wednesday night, but appears to match up badly with the heavily favored Red Devils. Much of the Shore Conference team’s strengths are in weights where the Red Devils are even more loaded. Hunterdon Central is shooting for its 22nd sectional title and is expected to meet Howell Sunday in the group final. 106 Christian Micikas (21-8) vs. Blake Tarnowski (19-5)

113 Jacob Venezia (26-2) vs. Demetri Poniros (23-8) 120 Joey Vannozzi (17-14) vs. Will Tisony (22-8)

126 Chris Lanciano (21-1) vs. Nick Schneider (10-9) 132 Alejandro Lopez (12-11) vs. Nick Benner (10-7)

138 Aaron Longo (19-8) vs. Jack Nies (28-4)

145 Justin Venezia (25-6) vs. Alex Poniros (2-2) 152 Heath Trainor (11-19) vs. Anthony Esposito (26-5) 160 Sean Santora (18-12) vs. Jared Tracey (13-9)

170 Josh Beigman (18-13) vs. Tah Jay Phillips (13-15) 182 Brandon Bowman (19-11) vs. Evan Romein (4-13) 195 Brian LaCross (22-8) vs. Ryan Moran (4-9)

220 Christian Cacciaubaudo (17-13) vs. Dino Poniros (12-14)

Hvy John Snyder (17-8) vs. Joe Teresi (24-6) NORTH HUNTERDON (20-2) AT PHILLIPSBURG (16-2) IN NORTH JERSEY 2 GROUP V

The Lions lost to Phillipsburg, 3024, in January and for the first time since 2015 have hopes of winning what would be a 16th sectional title. Still, this will be difficult. Phillipsburg is at home and is shooting for a sixth straight and remarkable 38th overall sectional title. P-Burg is also favored to win a group championship.

WHIPPANY PARK (15-7) AT DELAWARE VALLEY (12-6) IN NORTH JERSEY 2 GROUP 1

This is far from one of Delaware Valley’s better teams, but it benefited from a move down to Group I and out of a Central Jersey Group II field that includes South Plainfield. DelVal should have enough to nail down an 18th sectional title before running into Paulsboro in the semifinals at groups.